Just about two months ago I, like most other people, was imagining an Alabama-Oregon National Championship game. Auburn and Stanford, though, had other ideas. Stanford upset Oregon for the second straight year and Auburn defeated Alabama very shockingly. As crazy as college football can be at times, how many people can say honestly that when the season began they predicted an Auburn-Florida State National Championship game? I know that I didn’t…

Florida State and Auburn will be battling for this trophy come January 6th 2014 in Pasadena. By User:Nikonmadness from the English Wikipedia, via Wikimedia Commons

Florida State Seminoles: (13-0, 8-0 ACC) Beat Duke in ACC Title game

Ranked #11 to start the season, not many people saw the Seminoles jumping to the #1 ranking by year’s end. Redshirt freshman quarterback Jameis “Famous” Winston is the frontrunner for the Heisman Trophy and for good reason. He has posted 38 touchdowns, 10 interceptions and 3,820 passing yards. His explosive offense ranks 14th in passing and 27th in rushing in all of college football. Florida State’s defense also ranks first in college football only allowing 10.7 points per game. People may question the level of competition that Florida State plays being in the ACC but not only does Florida State beat their opponents, they dismantle them. Two examples are a 51-14 beat-down of #3 ranked Clemson at Memorial Stadium in Clemson and a 45-7 win against Duke in the ACC Title game. The Seminoles deserve to be in the National Championship game and they will look to break the SEC streak of seven straight National Championships.

Auburn Tigers: (12-1, 7-1 SEC) Beat Missouri in SEC Title game

After going 3-9 overall (0-8 in the SEC) last season, nobody saw Auburn coming except for maybe Auburn. Being unranked normally doesn’t bode well to make the Championship Game but the last two seasons an unranked team has made it (Notre Dame and Auburn). Coach Gus Malzahn took over the Auburn program after such a disheartening season and has rebuilt them within a year to make them title contenders once again. Led by their top-ranked rushing attack, Auburn is a force to be reckoned with offensively and shouldn’t be taken lightly. Every season there seems to be a team of “destiny” in the national title mix, and Auburn is most certainly it this season.

After an incredible Hail Mary win over Georgia to keep their title hopes alive, nobody thought Auburn could pull out another miraculous win but to the disbelief of college football fans everywhere, they did. Trailing by a touchdown late in the fourth quarter, Auburn tied the game at 28. Alabama then drove the ball down the field only to set up what would be the game winning field goal. The field goal was wide right and was improbably returned for a touchdown by returner Chris Davis to win the game and stun the college football world. They would go on to face Missouri in the SEC Title game, beating them 59-42 to secure their place in the National Championship game. Auburn now has a chance to keep the SEC dominance alive and win the school’s second National Championship in four years.